Dawson MP George Christensen quits LNP, joins One Nation to keep ‘fighting’ in major election twist

In a move set to send shockwaves through the LNP, George Christensen has defected to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and will contest the 2022 federal election.

MAVERICK Queensland MP George Christensen has sensationally reneged on his decision to retire, revealing he has joined Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and is seeking re-election.

The bombshell announcement is set to send shockwaves through the Coalition’s ranks in an election where every seat is critical and Mr Christensen’s popularity in his Mackay-based electorate is sizeable enough to be a threat to the LNP should he run there.

Mr Christensen, in an exclusive interview with the Courier-Mail, said he should have joined One Nation “a long time ago” after realising their beliefs and views matched his.

His defection comes less than a week after he resigned from the LNP because it had betrayed its conservative roots, failed “to take action against vaccine mandates and destructive pandemic policies”, and supported reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

It also comes nearly a year to the day Mr Christensen revealed he would be bowing out, saying he wanted to focus on his young family.

George Christensen has defected from the LNP and joined Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. Picture: Daryl Wright

But the Dawson MP said he changed his mind on retirement after an “enormous amount” of people over the last two months lobbied him to stay on because they felt “let down” by the LNP and could not support Labor.

“The more I queried into One Nation’s policies and looked at their constitution, their core beliefs, the things that Pauline has been campaigning on recently, just about everything aligned with my views,” he said.

“Bizarrely the question really didn’t float into my mind as to why am I doing this, the question that floated into my mind was, why hadn’t I done this a long time ago?”

Senator Hanson confirmed she had approached Mr Christensen late last year to argue he still had more to give in parliament, drawing parallels to former Labor leader Mark Latham who in 2019 won a spot in the NSW upper house as One Nation’s state leader.

One Nation has not yet confirmed where Mr Christensen will run, though Senator Hanson signalled she hoped the party could hold the balance of power in the senate and the lower house.

Mr Christensen could potentially make a run for the upper house, though One Nation has only managed a quota for two Senators in Queensland during the 2016 double dissolution election.

Senator Pauline Hanson and George Christensen are offered a bag of cashews from Malcolm Roberts in Parliamanet. Picture: Gary Ramage

“I know it’s a sacrifice to him and his family. I know that but I’m not going to apologise because I want good people standing beside me that are going to deliver for the Australian people,” she said.

The party already has a candidate, Julie Hall, running for them in the seat of Dawson — which means she would need to be moved aside should Mr Christensen seek re-election in his current seat.

One Nation has also remained coy on how it will direct voters’ on their preferences, stating the announcement would come in due course.

While One Nation tends to poll between 3 and 5 per cent of the vote nationally, its support base in Central and North Queensland sat between 11 per cent and 17 per cent at the 2019 election.

Mr Christensen said his family had “begrudgingly accepted” his decision not to retire from federal politics and said “at the very least” he would be able to help Senator Hanson get back into the upper house.

Originally published as Dawson MP George Christensen quits LNP, joins One Nation to keep ‘fighting’ in major election twist